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"id": 181361,
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to support this Bill. I want to congratulate and thank the Minister for finding it appropriate to bring this Bill before the House. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this matter is so critical that it touches on the lives and health of Kenyans. Therefore, it requires absolute support by this House. I just want to request the Minister that, as Parliament discusses this Bill, there is a possibility, perhaps, that the parliaments of this region, particularly those in the East African Community--- If, indeed, a Bill similar to this one has not been passed in Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and, particularly, countries that are in the neighbourhood, the Minister should encourage them to have similar laws, so that we can have harmony. The stability of our region is critical to this Bill being useful here. We trade with our neighbours and, therefore, there is a lot of mischief that can happen, particularly when this kind of law is not practised or implemented in countries that are surrounding us. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said that, I do not have a lot of quarrel with this Bill. I just want the Minister to re-emphasize the definition of \"counterfeit goods\" because we have generic medicines, which are not necessarily counterfeits. We have generic medicines that help our people. We have Anti-retroviral (ARVs) medicines that HIV/AIDS patients use. We have 3194 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 30, 2008 other generic medicines that we use in our hospitals, and which cannot be called counterfeits. Therefore, there is a possibility of misunderstanding this term. It will be very fine if the Minister re- emphasizes it and made it more clear. Indeed, perhaps, the Minister needs to conduct civic education to let the country know what is counterfeit, what is generic and what is original, so that people can make sound judgements when they want to purchase whatever they need. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the board that the Minister intends to establish, first of all, is too large! It looks too large for that kind of job. Any organisation that is large is likely to be ineffective. It cannot be as effective as we expect it to be. So, if there is a possibility for the Minister to review the membership to this board, he should reduce it to a maximum of eight qualified Kenyans. That will not give him a lot of--- I saw that he has put several nominated bodies. I do not think it is even necessary to put all those bodies in that board. If you get eight competent Kenyans, it might be easy--- The formula is to get one person from each of the eight provinces. That will help the Minister to make up his mind. So long as they are competent and they know what we expect them to do--- I think that will help us to reduce the expenditure on the board itself. When you have 28 members, you will have to pay them allowances, give them insurance cover, pay for their meetings--- Surely, I think the Minister can do with a very small board and get the Chair from among them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when the Minister says that the chair must be a lawyer, I could not understand the wisdom. Should he or she be a lawyer or a scientist? It requires to be qualified further. Why would you require a lawyer to head that board? It can be a Kenyan who is qualified, as long as he or she is educated and understands what the mandate of the board is. You do not have to restrict it to a lawyer or a scientist. It could be a doctor, an ambassador or a former hon. Member of Parliament. I do not think it is necessary to reserve it for scientists and lawyers. If there is a way you can review that, Mr. Minister, it will be good enough. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we handle this matter, there is a very important issue of what we call cross-border surveillance. Those goods come from areas, as hon. Mungatana has just said--- They come from Somalia because it is a collapsed system. They do not have institutions there. The Minister might want to know that, in Somalia today, there is a Minister for Industry. But there is no Ministry of Industry! We do not have the Ministry. We just have a Minister. We are talking about a situation where you are dealing with people who have got the institutions. Therefore, through that coastline, anything can find its way into our borders and homesteads. Those counterfeit goods, first of all, are very cheap. When they are cheap, many people can easily be attracted to buy them. Then, in the process, they endanger their lives. To avoid that, I would like to suggest to the Minister to see how we can collaborate with the police and Customs officials. In fact, they could have officers who are trained to detect those counterfeit goods stationed at our entry points, particularly where those very risky goods find their way into our country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, I would like to request the Minister - just to repeat it - to look into the issue of civic education. It is important for the Minister and his officials to undertake television programmes and community awareness programmes so that people can understand those counterfeit goods that are dangerous to their lives. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I support the Minister and congratulate him for bringing this Bill. Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I beg to support."
}